HOODED WARBLER 617 



Toimg. — Grimes (1935) says: 



The hooded warbler ordinarily rears only one brood each season in this area, 

 but I have known some to build again a week or ten days after the young left 

 the first nest and successfully bring off a second brood. * * * While the 

 female hooded seems to assume the whole task of building the nest, the male 

 has a part in incubating the eggs and brooding the nestlings. [See remarks 

 under plumages.] They share equally the work of supplying food for the young, 

 and when a second nest is started, the male takes over the care of the fledglings 

 of the first brood until they are able to shift for themselves. It is a rather 

 common occurrence to find a male being trailed all over the swamp by a clamor- 

 ous brood of young as large as the parent himself. But I have noticed that they 

 do not receive as much attention as they demand. 



Eugene P. Odum (1931) made some observations on a nest near 

 Chapel Hill, N. C, of which he writes : 



During the first three days after the young had hatched, the male fed on the 

 average of six times per hour, and the female fed three times and brooded three 

 times per hour, during the five hours of observation. The average length of 

 brooding periods was about ten minutes. During the remaining days that the 

 young were in the nest brooding was discontinued, and the male fed on the 

 average of every ten and one-half minutes, and the female every fourteen 

 minutes, in eight hours of observation. The nest was somewhat infested with 

 lice, and the female often spent several minutes eating. The excretus was 

 usually carried away. 



The young were hatched almost naked, but soon were clothed in a coat of 

 gray down. By the eighth day, when their eyes opened, they were partly 

 feathered, and were beginning to utter audible food cries, resembling those of 

 other young warblers. Their food seemed to be entirely insects, many of which 

 were caught on the wing. Large brown crane-flies formed an important item 

 in the fare. 



Dr. Williams (MS.) contributes the following information: "The 

 incubation period is 12 days, and it is quite usual to find one infertile 

 egg. The life of the young in the nest is 8 days or a little over. The 

 young come off the nest before they are able to fly at all well, but they 

 have remarkably well-developed legs and feet, are very active as 

 climbers and scramblers, and seem to be quite self-reliant. At first 

 they seek places where fallen tree tops or a tangle of decaying logs on 

 the forest floor offer them a refuge. Here both parents continue to 

 feed them, but they are soon on the wing and may be seen following 

 the parent birds about begging for food. 



"By no means are all pairs successful in rearing a brood at the 

 first attempt. In a four-year study of the birds of a 65-acre tract 

 it appeared that only one seventh of the pairs were successful in the 

 first attempt. Nests are frequently disturbed or destroyed, appar- 

 ently by predators. But the hooded warbler is a persistent nester. 

 Second and third attempts are made if necessary, and I am of the 

 opinion that only the advance of the season finally puts an end to the 

 bird's efforts to get a family of young on the wing if previous efforts 



